I need some help here, as this is my very first Android phone and I suspect the Sony software/photo processing is overprocessing my photos. I purchased the phone last week and was caught up figuring out the Android system. Now that things are settling, I am playing with the camera and getting very anxious about the poor camera quality.
I have tried a variety of photos (bright conditions, low light, fill flash) and honestly none of them were remotely satisfactory: the lack of detail overprocessing is terrible. I used to shoot commercially and I am coming from a Nokia 808 Pureview but I simply cannot accept that my standards are that high that a modern new phone would not be able to satisfy me.
Could anyone help me with the following:
- Is there an option to use a app for shooting photos and bypass Sony Camera app? If so, which app is recommended?
- Is there an option to shoot RAW and develop the photos myself??
- How could I test the hardware to find out whether the camera is actually defective?
Thanks in advance,
BB
Try going into settings, apps, locate 'photo analyzer service' and disable/uninstall it.
I have no issues or problems with my camera.
Woza72 said:
Try going into settings, apps, locate 'photo analyzer service' and disable/uninstall it.
I have no issues or problems with my camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Found it - it was under "ALL" apps. I disabled and stopped it. Going out for new photos to try this out.
Thanks!
BB
Woza72 said:
Try going into settings, apps, locate 'photo analyzer service' and disable/uninstall it.
I have no issues or problems with my camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disabled, went out and took some photos and same issues. Photos were taken at mediocre lighting conditions, so tomorrow during the day I plan on taking some photos again.
BB
There are other apps, A Better Camera, etc. To the best of my knowledge the RAW can't be accessed because Sony's API doesnt support it. So without a better API, the Sony app is probably the best choice. Have you tried playing with the manual mode settings?
eng3 said:
There are other apps, A Better Camera, etc. To the best of my knowledge the RAW can't be accessed because Sony's API doesnt support it. So without a better API, the Sony app is probably the best choice. Have you tried playing with the manual mode settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Manual mode is pretty skimpy, only allowing me to control exposure and white balance.
And I received a replacement Z5C from Amazon today, so I'll be able to compare cameras and decide if maybe my first unit was defective.
Cheers,
BB
OldSkewler said:
Manual mode is pretty skimpy, only allowing me to control exposure and white balance.
And I received a replacement Z5C from Amazon today, so I'll be able to compare cameras and decide if maybe my first unit was defective.
Cheers,
BB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a whole huge thread on the quality of the camera in the main Xperia Z5 subforum. The consensus opinion is basically that for most occasions you want to stick with the super-sampled 8mp SA. Poor light conditions you want to also stay with 8mp, but hold the camera steady until the tripod icon comes up, or shoot in manual night mode. And only in bright daylight conditions should you attempt to use the 20 and 23mp modes.
Related
Hey everyone! Ever since I got my 3VO I've been putting it through its paces. On a daily basis I am reminded of how poorly the 2D camera operates. I love photography and, as a result, I expect a lot from a camera, even a smartphone camera. The shutter speed is terrible and, any object that even slightly moves produces an unusable image. It's to the point where returning the phone isn't necessarily out of the question, depending on Q3 phone offerings.
When the 3VO's bootloader is finally unlocked, will I reasonably be able to assume that a developer can enhance the camera's performance?
XDA Premium App, biatches!
This is entirely possible with future OTAs from sprint, htc, and possibly Google. Perhaps kernel enhancements could help too.
This is of course unless the camera hardware is sub-par by design. If this is the case I'd not expect much.
Might want to give Vignette a try. This camera app seems to help out pictures and give you some more features to enhance your photos. When I compared pictures side by side it did better at adjusting for light levels, use of flash, and colors.
Just my two cents.
Thanks a lot guys, I'll try that app out.
I see a lot of people developing their own flavor of gingerbread for the Evo 3D and that's awesome. But I don't see much improving other aspects of the phone that could be universal... like the camera.
I'm a photographer/video producer so this sort of thing is important to me and I don't want to carry my big camera everywhere. We all know the biggest issue with the camera is the green-tinted pictures taken with the flash. I don't even see a white balance setting for the flash available to choose manually.
I had read that there were a lot of other features promised but removed from this phone's camera such as scene modes (though I could care less about this).
Another issue I've read about and noticed is the jpg compression used for the camera. It's good for the small screen and web, but too heavily compressed for anything else.
Then there's an issue of when you half-press the shutter button, it focuses (good) then press all the way it re-focuses. The proper way this should work is focus on half press, snap photo without another focus on the full press.
The shutter lag is awful too, but I guess it's pretty much the norm as far as phones go.
Of course I have a wishlist of things to be added *cough new mytouch camera cough* but someone needs to figure out this green flash problem first...
gk1984 said:
I see a lot of people developing their own flavor of gingerbread for the Evo 3D and that's awesome. But I don't see much improving other aspects of the phone that could be universal... like the camera.
I'm a photographer/video producer so this sort of thing is important to me and I don't want to carry my big camera everywhere. We all know the biggest issue with the camera is the green-tinted pictures taken with the flash. I don't even see a white balance setting for the flash available to choose manually.
I had read that there were a lot of other features promised but removed from this phone's camera such as scene modes (though I could care less about this).
Another issue I've read about and noticed is the jpg compression used for the camera. It's good for the small screen and web, but too heavily compressed for anything else.
Then there's an issue of when you half-press the shutter button, it focuses (good) then press all the way it re-focuses. The proper way this should work is focus on half press, snap photo without another focus on the full press.
The shutter lag is awful too, but I guess it's pretty much the norm as far as phones go.
Of course I have a wishlist of things to be added *cough new mytouch camera cough* but someone needs to figure out this green flash problem first...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have very little professional photography experience and def don't have the eye to pick up on the color differences as they appear very subtle to me.
are there any camera apps in the market which implement some of the features you've listed?
as far as modifying the htc camera apk file, it is not open sourced so all work will have to be done through reverse engineering.
the compression setting was mentioned a few days ago in a thread here and i did research it in the AOSP version of the camera apk which is open sourced. i was able to find the line with the compression setting and it should be fairly simple to modifying the settings panel to provide an option for the user to adjust this. all the info is in my post on that thread.
if you wanted to post up your wish list of camera features, or contact some of the camera app devs in the market with your feature list, given you have a professional photography background, i would think they would be open to your suggestions.
Thanks for the reply. I didn't realize it would take so much reverse engineering there. And yes, some photos with the flash are harder to tell the off white balance, but I stopped using the flash and never taking night pics with this phone... Day time photos are awesome if not for the compression.
I haven't had much luck in finding any camera apps yet, hasn't occurred to me really. But I do love HDR Pro for the hdr pics - if anyone's interested in experimenting with that (takes a couple pics in dif exposures then combines them for a more natural and detailed photo)
I guess I'll have to wait to see if HTC does anything more with it or search for an alternative. Thanks though.
It's a phone. You'll never get true professional quality photos from a phone no matter what app you use. As a photographer you know that...f-stops, aperture, lenses and all the other stuff that photographers talk about can't really be changed on a phone's camera. To really get professional quality photos and video, even though phone cameras have gotten very good, you need to use the right equipment.
ranger61878 said:
It's a phone. You'll never get true professional quality photos from a phone no matter what app you use. As a photographer you know that...f-stops, aperture, lenses and all the other stuff that photographers talk about can't really be changed on a phone's camera. To really get professional quality photos and video, even though phone cameras have gotten very good, you need to use the right equipment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right but that's not my complaint. As I stated, my biggest gripe is the green tinted photos with the flash and compression. There are features I'd like to see from the latest mytouch camera (native hdr, no shutter lag - which is done with a constant image stream or something like that, etc)
you can have some things improved with the software side of things, but yes, hardware is a limitation and I'm not expecting this to replace a professional camera.
gk1984 said:
Thanks for the reply. I didn't realize it would take so much reverse engineering there. And yes, some photos with the flash are harder to tell the off white balance, but I stopped using the flash and never taking night pics with this phone... Day time photos are awesome if not for the compression.
I haven't had much luck in finding any camera apps yet, hasn't occurred to me really. But I do love HDR Pro for the hdr pics - if anyone's interested in experimenting with that (takes a couple pics in dif exposures then combines them for a more natural and detailed photo)
I guess I'll have to wait to see if HTC does anything more with it or search for an alternative. Thanks though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've used HDR pro. I've also used Vignette which was my favorite camera app on the EVO 4G. It works on the 3D but of course you can only take 2D pictures with any of the third party cameras...so far.
On the HTC website/forum they do acknowledge the issues with the camera and say they are working on an update to correct them. I guess we'll see if that ever comes to fruition.
Hello all,
I just bought a Z2 (second hand) as I wanted a phone with a high quality camera and apparently the Z2 was one of the best out there at the time of its release.
Unfortunately thus far the photos I've got from the Z2 seems pretty low quality with lots of noise and lack of detail. I've tried using manual mode and setting the ISO to 50 or 100 but the quality is still bad. Not really any different to my old cheap o Vodafone own branded phone. And the front facing camera is absolutely dreadful!
I've looked around for a solution but not found anything conclusive.
Does anyone have any advice on a way to improve the picture quality? Any particular ROMs or apps I should use. In currently on stock 6.0.1. I've read that some peoplefound that picture quality had degraded with each OS update from KK.
Many thanks
tooplanx said:
Hello all,
I just bought a Z2 (second hand) as I wanted a phone with a high quality camera and apparently the Z2 was one of the best out there at the time of its release.
Unfortunately thus far the photos I've got from the Z2 seems pretty low quality with lots of noise and lack of detail. I've tried using manual mode and setting the ISO to 50 or 100 but the quality is still bad. Not really any different to my old cheap o Vodafone own branded phone. And the front facing camera is absolutely dreadful!
I've looked around for a solution but not found anything conclusive.
Does anyone have any advice on a way to improve the picture quality? Any particular ROMs or apps I should use. In currently on stock 6.0.1. I've read that some peoplefound that picture quality had degraded with each OS update from KK.
Many thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's actually false, it has been the same way from KK,LP & MM
I tried flashing the Cyberian Mod and I've seen some slight improvements
I also bought a second hand z2. the camera was awful at first just as you described but then I saw a thread somewhere here on xda that suggests scratching off the thin coating on the lens of the z2. I scratched mine with a card and now it works great.
MJ999 said:
It's actually false, it has been the same way from KK,LP & MM
I tried flashing the Cyberian Mod and I've seen some slight improvements
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand the Z2 has such good reviews of the camera. I have seen some pretty good photos that other people have taken on z2s though.
I've heard that unlocking the bootloader can effect the camera, though I'm not clear whether in a good or bad way.
tooplanx said:
I don't understand the Z2 has such good reviews of the camera. I have seen some pretty good photos that other people have taken on z2s though.
I've heard that unlocking the bootloader can effect the camera, though I'm not clear whether in a good or bad way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ofcourse in a bad way, because sony removes the BIONZ processing and some other features if you unlock your bootloader
stock
Some sample images...
I have just transferred some of my photos from the xperia z2 on to my PC to have a closer look, and I'm even more shocked by the awful quality. It looks like a budget phone from 2012!
I took a few sample shots using the 'Superior' Auto mode, then using the Open Camera App, then one on my old cheap-o Vodafone Smart Prime 6 so that I could compare.
Look at the attachments, they are in the order mentioned above, all at 8MP.
1. Superior Auto produces a dreadful contrasty, high-noise, low-detail image.
2. Open Camera does a better job, slightly more detail. I was unable to set the ISO in the app for some reason.
3. Old Vodafone Smart Prime 6 has perhaps slightly less sharp image, but overall is much less contrasty and produces a much nicer image, with natural looking detail.
WTF?! how is this top of the range Xperia producing images worse than a low end phone?!
Any help greatly appreciated.
tooplanx said:
I have just transferred some of my photos from the xperia z2 on to my PC to have a closer look, and I'm even more shocked by the awful quality. It looks like a budget phone from 2012!
I took a few sample shots using the 'Superior' Auto mode, then using the Open Camera App, then one on my old cheap-o Vodafone Smart Prime 6 so that I could compare.
Look at the attachments, they are in the order mentioned above, all at 8MP.
1. Superior Auto produces a dreadful contrasty, high-noise, low-detail image.
2. Open Camera does a better job, slightly more detail. I was unable to set the ISO in the app for some reason.
3. Old Vodafone Smart Prime 6 has perhaps slightly less sharp image, but overall is much less contrasty and produces a much nicer image, with natural looking detail.
WTF?! how is this top of the range Xperia producing images worse than a low end phone?!
Any help greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange , i often do photos with my z2, and i have a more natural image than others. Ok in auto sometimes they are more overexposed(but very less with marshmallow). But use manual, -0.3 or -0.7 ev,esposure misuraction multiple and touch autofocus. Better than auto mode. If you mod your z2, use cyberian mod and the quality improve a lot. The version with worse camera is kitkat...orrible quality with auto mode. Then with lollipop and marshmallow,improve a lot the camera.
djgigi94 said:
Strange , i often do photos with my z2, and i have a more natural image than others. Ok in auto sometimes they are more overexposed(but very less with marshmallow). But use manual, -0.3 or -0.7 ev,esposure misuraction multiple and touch autofocus. Better than auto mode. If you mod your z2, use cyberian mod and the quality improve a lot. The version with worse camera is kitkat...orrible quality with auto mode. Then with lollipop and marshmallow,improve a lot the camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for your response, I'm going to try and install Cyberian but first need to figure out how to root the phone and install a custom recovery. There doesn't seem to be any clear and sure-fire way...
I've looked through loads of threads and websites and they all seem to be out dated, incomplete, very vague or unstable.
Anyone know the easiest / safest method for MM .291?
Cheers!
tooplanx said:
Hi, thanks for your response, I'm going to try and install Cyberian but first need to figure out how to root the phone and install a custom recovery. There doesn't seem to be any clear and sure-fire way...
I've looked through loads of threads and websites and they all seem to be out dated, incomplete, very vague or unstable.
Anyone know the easiest / safest method for MM .291?
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On general thread there is the method https://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-z2/general/tool-rooting-23-5-1-291-supersu-t3437280
djgigi94 said:
On general thread there is the method https://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-z2/general/tool-rooting-23-5-1-291-supersu-t3437280
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've looked through that but the instructions are vague, files seem to be missing, and people have said they have had problems with it.
tooplanx said:
Yeah, I've looked through that but the instructions are vague, files seem to be missing, and people have said they have had problems with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must install flashtool and use some guides to flash 575 kernel. Then the guide is simple. I use often this guide ,but when i'm on recovery to flash 291 kernel and supesu, i don't flash them but a new rom. It's the best way
djgigi94 said:
You must install flashtool and use some guides to flash 575 kernel. Then the guide is simple. I use often this guide ,but when i'm on recovery to flash 291 kernel and supesu, i don't flash them but a new rom. It's the best way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where can I find the correct flashtool? Are we talking about a PC based flashtool or android based?
Thanks
tooplanx said:
Where can I find the correct flashtool? Are we talking about a PC based flashtool or android based?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PC, there is a guide to install marshmallow to z5 but the first part of guide, explain how to install correctly flashtool http://www.xperiablog.net/2016/03/12/install-xperia-marshmallow-using-flashtool-and-xperifirm-guide/
Soooo.... rooted and installed Cyberian... camera is still god awful!
Is there a known issue with the z2? It seems that half of owners think the camera is brilliant and half think it's rubbish. I've seen evidence that would point towards there being a quality control issue at Sony, with a large quantity of faulty handsets being sold? (See this post, amongst others)
My back camera is definitely sub-par, performing worse than a low-end phone, and as for the front camera.... well, it looks like a blown up 0.2mp image.
Some more examples attached. They alternate rear camera, front camera.
I'm surprised Sony hasn't faced a large lawsuit around this issue.
tooplanx said:
Soooo.... rooted and installed Cyberian... camera is still god awful!
Is there a known issue with the z2? It seems that half of owners think the camera is brilliant and half think it's rubbish. I've seen evidence that would point towards there being a quality control issue at Sony, with a large quantity of faulty handsets being sold? (See this post, amongst others)
My back camera is definitely sub-par, performing worse than a low-end phone, and as for the front camera.... well, it looks like a blown up 0.2mp image.
Some more examples attached. They alternate rear camera, front camera.
I'm surprised Sony hasn't faced a large lawsuit around this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First: use 4:3 resolution instead 16:9. 4:3 is the resolution of sensor. 16:9 pictures are worse. There is a 12 mp resolution in cyberian Who improve a lot pictures. Why did you don't try it? if this persist, control that sensor have the lens antireflex corrupted. This is second hand z2. So this is possible
djgigi94 said:
First: use 4:3 resolution instead 16:9. 4:3 is the resolution of sensor. 16:9 pictures are worse. There is a 12 mp resolution in cyberian Who improve a lot pictures. Why did you don't try it? if this persist, control that sensor have the lens antireflex corrupted. This is second hand z2. So this is possible
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried all modes and they all produce pretty poor photos. These are actually taken using Open Camera which gives a significant improvement in pic quality over the stock app.
Hello, my one makes even worse photos than yours, i have the cam glass scratched, is it the problem?
tooplanx said:
I've tried all modes and they all produce pretty poor photos. These are actually taken using Open Camera which gives a significant improvement in pic quality over the stock app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See the lens if they are damged
Checked closely both back and front lenses for damage but they both look fine. The phone in general is in a 'like new' condition.
The camera's manual mode is darn good. After som shooting, I can see that. It's especially good for stills.
BUT that auto mode is average to not good. I hear some chatter that this camera is for content creators --- those who don't want just auto mode.
I guess the question is --- why can't we have it both ways? What am I missing? Why can't auto jpegs be processed well (pixel-like, for those want it), along with a great manual features? My ILC can do both --- and it's only got one sensor. So, what gives here? I'm just not sure why we need to compromise.
Put simply, there are some situations where I want to shoot manual and some that I just want to shoot in P&S mode.
The best picture isn't always technically the best one, but rather what can be caught in focus in the frame. Seems reasonable to me.
You can use Google Camera for HDR+ Auto Mode. It also generate Raw files for post-processing if jpeg is not good enough.
Link for you: https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/
For example: photo with more colors is hdr+ auto mode. Other is raw with snapseed.
Which port do you recommend??? Thanks much.
coldbeverage said:
The camera's manual mode is darn good. After som shooting, I can see that. It's especially good for stills.
BUT that auto mode is average to not good. I hear some chatter that this camera is for content creators --- those who don't want just auto mode.
I guess the question is --- why can't we have it both ways? What am I missing? Why can't auto jpegs be processed well (pixel-like, for those want it), along with a great manual features? My ILC can do both --- and it's only got one sensor. So, what gives here? I'm just not sure why we need to compromise.
Put simply, there are some situations where I want to shoot manual and some that I just want to shoot in P&S mode.
The best picture isn't always technically the best one, but rather what can be caught in focus in the frame. Seems reasonable to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your ILC is a dedicated camera. Everything in it is designed for one job and one job only, to produce the best image possible with the processing chips and jpg engines all dedicated to this end. That's all it does, that whole box. A cellphone is a jack of all trades and there's a saying about jack of all trades, master of none. At no point would I ever put a current cellphone up against a current dedicated camera for imaging. The camera will win every time. Cellphones have encouraged an attitude of good enough when in reality, we know it isn't. To be certain, cellphones these days do a lot better than the first DSLRs and definitely better than my first digital camera.
Problem is that a cellphone is literally everything crammed into one tiny space. Music player, computer, internet modem, phone, television screen, video camera, and camera.... er, make that cameras. All of that screaming for limited space and resources, battery and processors. A dedicated camera is one sensor and it is usually much larger than any cellphone camera sensor. That one sensor usually has room to breath, literally, to help keep it from overheating and not stress the hardware. Cellphones don't get that luxury. A dedicated camera has dedicated AF systems, often times an entirely dedicated set of sensors just for that. Metering is also an entirely separate area of development and testing.
So while we have been lulled into thinking cellphones are great cameras, in reality, they aren't. There's still a lot of times that it is best to have a dedicated camera.
Right, agreed, but it seems to often come down to a software issue in the cameras. Have full manual controls for manual purposes and have good auto processing. Or, am I still missing the point? I could be very wrong here.
coldbeverage said:
Right, agreed, but it seems to often come down to a software issue in the cameras. Have full manual controls for manual purposes and have good auto processing. Or, am I still missing the point? I could be very wrong here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, software will be the same problem. For a dedicated camera company, you have an entire company coming up with the engines and algo's going into the camera. Versus a cellphone company having to split their development between a lot of teams but they're going to be pretty small and at best, just able to tweak previous versions of software for their small corner of the device. The company I work for does software for a lot of various things a pharmacy might want to do. We have around 4 devs per team to pull off all the things in a pharmacy. Whereas there are some companies out there that do just one of the things we do and dedicate a much larger team to it. (Up to 100 people working on one piece of software vs our overall team of maybe 10.) That's the difference between a cellphone and a dedicated camera.
coldbeverage said:
Which port do you recommend??? Thanks much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Latest stable port in my link. You have to test some settings to get the best result. Also I hear that Oreo version has improved camera.
starrynighthn said:
Latest stable port in my link. You have to test some settings to get the best result. Also I hear that Oreo version has improved camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. A couple of them work. Any advice on settings? I found some, but curious if you got something better.
CHH2 said:
Again, software will be the same problem. For a dedicated camera company, you have an entire company coming up with the engines and algo's going into the camera. Versus a cellphone company having to split their development between a lot of teams but they're going to be pretty small and at best, just able to tweak previous versions of software for their small corner of the device. The company I work for does software for a lot of various things a pharmacy might want to do. We have around 4 devs per team to pull off all the things in a pharmacy. Whereas there are some companies out there that do just one of the things we do and dedicate a much larger team to it. (Up to 100 people working on one piece of software vs our overall team of maybe 10.) That's the difference between a cellphone and a dedicated camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm actually curious if there's any way to adjust LG's Auto settings. I think from what I've heard, the most common issues are that the photos come out over-exposed and over-processed and smoothed out. Is there any way to go into the LG's software and tone down the exposure brightness and smoothing a bit? I'm sure I'm oversimplifying it but I wonder if there is some sort of setting values we can change so that way everything else remains the same.
any available Gcam for xperia1 III now?
Have you checked GCam Port Hub?
IDK why you bother looking for another camera while your phone's is already very great IMO.
FlandreKanade said:
any available Gcam for xperia1 III now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "MGC_8.1.101_A9_GV1r" is working, but you need to config it to do a better job. I've an initial config made by myself
Masterblop said:
The "MGC_8.1.101_A9_GV1r" is working, but you need to config it to do a better job. I've an initial config made by myself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thx
Masterblop said:
The "MGC_8.1.101_A9_GV1r" is working, but you need to config it to do a better job. I've an initial config made by myself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can ı use this xml file with the app?
Maazellat said:
How can ı use this xml file with the app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have made a thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/gcam-sony-xperia-1iii.4343691/
Masterblop said:
I have made a thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/gcam-sony-xperia-1iii.4343691/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much bro
Which one are you guys using?
New updated version: https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/dev-bsg/f/dl53/
Tried and working version: MGC_8.1.101_A9_GV1s_MGC.apk
Hello,
Is there any option to made the photo sphere working? Honestly I only try to have Gcam for this mode hehe.
Thank you for the apk
Thank you for the link and the config. This is the only build of gcam that I could get working at all.
I've been evaluating this phone for the last week. I may end up returning it. It's a fantastic device; the only real problem I have with it is the camera. It's just not that good, and I think it's entirely a software problem. I've been side-by-side comparing shots taken with Photography Pro, taken with this gcam build, and with my old phone (Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 with a Pixel Experience ROM). Most of the time my old phone looks best, unfortunately.
You tell me:
Left: Xiaomi, Center: Xperia with Photography Pro in Auto mode, Right: Xperia with this Gcam config.
I wonder if with additional tweaking of the config, this could be fixed. It could open up the full potential of the hardware. I don't know the first thing about tweaking this type of camera config, though. Is there a guide that you used somewhere for figuring out the best values in this file?
Thanks again.
stiltzkin said:
Thank you for the link and the config. This is the only build of gcam that I could get working at all.
I've been evaluating this phone for the last week. I may end up returning it. It's a fantastic device; the only real problem I have with it is the camera. It's just not that good, and I think it's entirely a software problem. I've been side-by-side comparing shots taken with Photography Pro, taken with this gcam build, and with my old phone (Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 with a Pixel Experience ROM). Most of the time my old phone looks best, unfortunately.
You tell me:
Left: Xiaomi, Center: Xperia with Photography Pro in Auto mode, Right: Xperia with this Gcam config.
I wonder if with additional tweaking of the config, this could be fixed. It could open up the full potential of the hardware. I don't know the first thing about tweaking this type of camera config, though. Is there a guide that you used somewhere for figuring out the best values in this file?
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
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Photography pro and pretty much every xperia before always use very little elaboration. Pretty much every review and testing state that photography pro could obtain high quality photos if used in manual mode. It's not easy, but auto it's not good. For casual photo shot better using basic mode, if you switch to advancet setting, avoid auto and use P, S, or M mode.
I know it's a smartphone and not a mirrorless or a Reflex but it's something like buying a 5000 euro camera body to use it with automatic settings.
Also form the photo you posted i see that the wood construction in the xperia auto mode is darker...but...the tree foliage on the top left clearly show more detail in the middle photo. The Gcam settings appear to have too much sharpness and grain.
Probably the middle photo with a little more exposure time or a little more iso will be the best one of the three.
Evil_Sephiroth said:
Photography pro and pretty much every xperia before always use very little elaboration. Pretty much every review and testing state that photography pro could obtain high quality photos if used in manual mode.
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I won't argue this with you; I've seen some great results in reviews from people using the camera in Manual mode. I'm sure it's possible to obtain superior results if you have the time to compose your shot and find the perfect settings.
The thing is though, for most of the photos I would want to take with a smartphone camera, I don't have time to find optimal settings manually. When I do have that time, I think the ability to make those manual adjustments is awesome (and should be in more smartphones), but most of the time I don't. That means that the Auto/Basic modes are incredibly important, because it's how I'll end up taking most photos in real life. Maybe that means that this phone is not marketed to me, and if that's the case, that's fine. But manual settings are pretty much outside the scope of discussion for this thread - what I wanted was a comparison of essentially default settings between my current phone and this phone.
Evil_Sephiroth said:
For casual photo shot better using basic mode, if you switch to advancet setting, avoid auto and use P, S, or M mode.
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In my testing, I actually found that Basic mode usually takes worse photos than Auto mode. In particular, Basic mode seems to have a big problem with overexposure. I assume because HDR/DRO is not being used?
Left to right: Reference (Xiaomi), Sony Auto, Sony Basic, Sony Gcam
(I had to scale down this comparison for posting)
Also, all modes on this phone do not capture detail as well as my current 3 year old phone. If you blow up the details, clearly the reference photo on the left has by far the best preservation:
Left to right: Reference (Xiaomi), Sony Auto, Sony Basic, Sony Gcam
This holds for every test photo I took - the detail is worse from the Xperia. I don't think manual mode tweaks will fix this - it seems like the sensor and software just don't capture as much detail.
But then again, I am not a professional photographer, so I'm not completely sure. Maybe I am doing something wrong.
All in all, I was really disappointed with these results since I wanted to love this phone!
I think EVERYONE who is obsessed with so-called camera quality on a PHONE has lost their minds. It has become ridiculous.
stiltzkin said:
Thank you for the link and the config. This is the only build of gcam that I could get working at all.
I've been evaluating this phone for the last week. I may end up returning it. It's a fantastic device; the only real problem I have with it is the camera. It's just not that good, and I think it's entirely a software problem. I've been side-by-side comparing shots taken with Photography Pro, taken with this gcam build, and with my old phone (Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 with a Pixel Experience ROM). Most of the time my old phone looks best, unfortunately.
You tell me:
Left: Xiaomi, Center: Xperia with Photography Pro in Auto mode, Right: Xperia with this Gcam config.
I wonder if with additional tweaking of the config, this could be fixed. It could open up the full potential of the hardware. I don't know the first thing about tweaking this type of camera config, though. Is there a guide that you used somewhere for figuring out the best values in this file?
Thanks again.
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In this case for me Sony photo pro>Xiaomi>Sony GCam. Probably we have different opinions or eyes hehe
jaseman said:
I think EVERYONE who is obsessed with so-called camera quality on a PHONE has lost their minds. It has become ridiculous.
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It's the new MHz race on x86 CPU when Pentium 4 were a thing
My race started with Hz
jaseman said:
I think EVERYONE who is obsessed with so-called camera quality on a PHONE has lost their minds. It has become ridiculous.
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An owner of this particular phone with close to insanity price tag is supposed to be obsessed with camera quality. Just because this is the main selling point of it - Zeiss, Sony Alpha team etc. Unfortunaly I'm less than impressed too . Other flaws like average battery life, no face unlock, low screen brightness at daylight etc etc don't help to love this phone either....